The Word is Not Chained

2 Timothy 2:8-9--"Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for while I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!" (ESV)

These two verses might be amongst the most encouraging for a Minister of the Word. When I first arrived in Malawi this past summer, I was placed in a sort of mini-crisis. After spending the better part of a year planning this trip around the primary task of teaching in a theological school, there seemed a fair chance that my team would be rebuffed by the school and would be left to come up with a new primary task in a land that was totally foreign to us. More than any other time in my life, I devoted my days to prayer and Scripture. God poured his Word upon my parched heart--in particular with these two verses.

Not only the preacher, but all Christians should find encouragement in these verses:

1) Consider your predicament--you are weak, sinful, and suffering--either internally or externally. Each time the God puts His Word upon your tongue in any setting, it is done in spite of you. You are shackled in every part by the chains of sin.

2) Consider your hope--God does not need human vessels to carry His Word into this world, but He elects and even delights in doing so. You are given the privilege of taking the very Word of God into a sinful world--piercing darkness with light. If this Word does not share in your shackles, then it means that what it is sent forth to accomplish will not be thwarted. Thus, you need not question your salvation if you are a Christian, because God's Word has given you the content of your hope and promised you that it will never be taken away (cf. Rom. 8:36-39). You need never despair of purpose or meaning in this life, because you know that God will continue to use you to bring Himself glory. His Word will speak beyond your shackles, with the result that people will know that it is God who speaks and moves--not you. Finally, you need not fear suffering or even death. It is not the messenger who matters as much as the Message, which will continue to advance throughout the world through the Church.

Paul knew that his chains revealed the mighty power of God's Word, and we should share in that confidence. When the great Church father, Athanasius died, God raised up the Cappadocian Fathers. When the Calvin and Luther and the other great early Reformers died, God raised the Protestant Scholastics to continue the purification of the Church. When Warfield, Kuyper, and Bavinck died in the early 20th century, God raised up my hero, J. Gresham Machen. When Machen died, God raised up luminaries like VanTil, Murray, and Berkhof. Today, even as the Western Church declines, we have great lights in figures like Horton, Vanhoozer, and Piper. In addition, God is raising up more leading lights from the majority world by the day.

It is amazing to watch God's Word move, unrestrained by the sin and suffering that afflicts the Church. May the Church be a pillar and foundation for this great Word, that it may be lifted high and God's Name be glorified!